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Posted on 04/03/2019 8:24:51 AM PDT by jazusamo
A Senate panel on Wednesday advanced legislation that would levy a hefty fine on illegal robocalls, the latest congressional effort to crack down on the billions of unwanted calls that irritate U.S. consumers every year.
Lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee approved the bill in 26-0 vote. The measure's co-sponsors include Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who is running for president, and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who chairs the Senate Commerce consumer protection subcommittee.
The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, introduced by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would give the federal government the authority to slap offenders with fines of up to $10,000 per call.
It also would give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) more time to bring charges against companies behind illegal robocalls, lengthening the statute of limitations from one to three years. The telecom industry would be required under the legislation to take stronger action against “spoofing,” a practice where robocallers make it look like they are calling from a number in the recipient's area code.
“As nearly half of all calls to mobile phones this year will be robocalls, this legislation can’t get signed into law soon enough,” Thune said during the hearing. “The TRACED Act is a bipartisan act that targets the worst of the worst.”
Markey called the vote “historic.”
“Today, the committee did just take a historic step towards finally ending the deluge of unwanted and intrusive robocalls bombarding millions of consumers across our country on a daily basis,” Markey said.
Lawmakers during the previous Congress held three hearings and passed 13 bills aimed at curtailing robocalls, but the measure advanced by the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday is the most significant piece of legislation to address the issue.
U.S. residents received an estimated 26 billion robocalls last year, with a quarter of those from illegal robocallers, according to an industry estimate cited by The Washington Post on Tuesday.
The Federal Trade Commission and FCC have said the most complaints they receive pertain to “unwanted and illegal robocalls.”
But critics say the two agencies have not done enough to address the issue, as the number of unwanted calls has climbed significantly in recent years.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last month warned phone service providers that if they don't crack down on "spoofed" caller IDs from robocallers, the agency will “consider regulatory intervention."
Updated at 10:21 a.m.
Well...I guess Congress has its priorities. ...
At least half of the calls to my business are robo-calls
Whatever happened to the “do not call” lists of a decade ago?
Caller ID is mandated these days for 911 identification of emergency calls.
Frankly, I don't understand how someone can spoof Caller ID numbers, but forcing Telcos to implement steps to block spoofed calls, or to prevent the ability to spoof Caller ID would cure 99% of the robocall issue.
I'm getting sick and tired of getting robocalls on my cell phone from a number with my same area code and three digit prefix.
That ####ed me up the first time I saw it :)
I was like, “am I calling myself and forgot the last 4 digits of my number”
And where am I calling myself from :)
"FCC Reportedly Collected Only 0.003% of Robocall Fines Since 2015," March 28, 2019, Gizmodo
Just laughable. It's not a matter of more LAWS - it's a matter of ENFORCEMENT.
I understand your statement.
But this is an intrusion of privacy issue and it’s not like congress does much else anyway :)
This shouldn’t take that long to knock out.
And then they can get back to their 24/7 tireless work on the budget and other things :)
I see many references to stopping illegal calls. I wish they gave as much attention to stopping illegal aliens. Illegal calls are a nuisance. Illegal aliens are a much more serious matter.
Nero’s fiddling while Rome burns.
The “do not call” list is a “CALL ME” list.
I got a robocall in Chinese last night. Just bizarre.
Yep...Easily 70% of calls to our home are robocalls that we don’t answer and no message is left.
The do not call law used to work, it’s now a joke.
Undoing the Obama legacy one policy at a time.
You do remember that we had this before, and he prevented it from being renewed.
Are we going to shut to border to India until they comply?
Illegal calls are a nuisance. Illegal aliens are a much more serious matter.
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We are losing our country.
Congress does nothing useful.
No one sees the RNC being penalized for sending robocals t o constituents? This is going to get politically nasty in about 16 months.
This bill should be summed up in a couple of sentences. The do not call list means just that. If Rachel from card member services calls me about my credit card, and I get another call from Rachel from another number, whoever is doing this needs to be fined or go to jail because now you are invading my privacy.
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Yet, they’re all rather comfy and cozy with the mess on the border.
What this bill does not address is Caller ID spoofing.
I've even gotten a couple from my own number.
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